Joseph Percoco, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's former top aide and close friend, is on trial in Manhattan, accused of accepting more than $315,000 in bribes. Here are the key players in his trial.
Jon Campbell / Albany Bureau

Todd Howe, a former lobbyist and one-time aide to Andrew Cuomo, is the prosecution's star witness in the case against Joseph Percoco, Cuomo's former top aide. He's pictured here on a 2010 fishing trip with Percoco and Peter Galbraith Kelly, Percoco's co-defendant.(Photo: Government exhibit)

The star witness in the Joseph Percoco corruption trial may be damaged goods after having his bail revoked and being sent to jail while in the midst of testifying, but federal prosecutors still want him to look good on the stand.

They've asked the judge to let Todd Howe continue to wear a suit - the jacket and pants kind, not a jumpsuit — when the trial resumes. The trial was not expected to resume Monday as scheduled because the defense lawyer in the midst of cross examining Howe is ill.

Howe was taken into custody Thursday night after acknowledging during cross examination that he had violated the terms of his cooperation agreement. He admitted that during the time he was meeting with prosecutors to get the agreement he stayed at the Waldorf Astoria for a night, but later tried to convince his credit card company to reverse the $600-plus bill by claiming he hadn't stayed there.

In a letter Saturday to U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni, the prosecution also asked the judge to "avoid any speculation by the jury as to why Mr. Howe is now incarcerated" by instructing jurors that Howe was put in jail because his bail was revoked.

The defense objected to that, suggesting prosecutors were seeking to limit their questioning of Howe. Stephen Coffey, the lawyer for one of Percoco's co-defendants, Steven Aiello, wrote to Caproni that the defense should be allowed to cross examine Howe about why he was incarcerated and prosecutors "should not be able to cloak its position with the Court's authority via an instruction."

"No instruction is necessary or appropriate," Coffey wrote. "Both the defense and the Government can handle this issue through the continued examination of Mr. Howe."

Joseph Percoco, left, Gov, Andrew Cuomo's former executive deputy secretary, leaves U.S. District Court with one of his attorneys after appearing in his federal bribery trial, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in New York.(Photo: Kathy Willens, AP)

Percoco, a longtime aide and confidant of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and three upstate executives of Howe's clients Cor Development and Competitive Power Ventures are charged in a pair of bribery schemes in which Howe allegedly arranged for more than $300,000 to be sent Percoco's way in exchange for help he gave the two companies in their dealings with the state.

Peter Galbraith Kelly Jr., a former CPV senior vice president, is accused of providing Percoco's wife with nearly $290,000 for a low-show job so that Percoco would help CPV get state deals that would benefit its power plants in Orange County and in New Jersey.

Aiello and Joseph Gerardi of Cor are accused of funneling $35,000 through Howe to Percoco for help on its redevelopment of Syracuse's Inner Harbor and to get Aiello's son a raise when he worked for the governor.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, center, is pictured with COR Development president Steve Aiello, right, and William Eimicke, a Columbia University professor with close ties to Todd Howe.(Photo: Government exhibit)

The defense in the case has always been that Howe was an unsavory, manipulative liar who made up the bribery schemes to help himself out of trouble for his own crimes and that the payments made to Percoco were legitimate business expenses or favors for a friend.

Prosecutors acknowledged Howe's baggage, but were dealt a blow by his admissions of further wrongdoing since the agreement was reached.

Howe was on his fourth day of testifying - and second on cross examination - when Kelly's lawyer Daniel Gitner confronted him about the Waldorf stay and also about an application for disability insurance on which Howe failed to indicate he had previously been convicted of a felony. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to a bank fraud charge for depositing a bad check.

Howe cited a "come to Jesus" discussion with his lawyer in 2016 that led him to cooperate with the government and start telling the truth after years of financial scams, lies and massive debts.

He pleaded guilty that September to eight felonies, including ones related to the bribery schemes as well as his own embezzlement of funds from his law firm and tax evasion for the hundreds of thousands of dollars he stole.

For over six years while he was a lobbyist in Washington, Howe diverted payments from clients of the Albany firm, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna to a secret firm bank account he had set up for his own personal use.

He faces up to 130 years in prison but had hoped for significantly less - or even to avoid incarceration - by cooperating. His agreement with prosecutors called for them to submit a letter to the sentencing judge supporting leniency if he provided substantial assistance to the government. But prosecutors are not obligated to go to bat for him if he lies on the witness stand or commits any other crimes.

Asked by Gitner if he feared the government would now rip up the agreement, Howe said he hoped they wouldn't.

Gitner's co-counsel, Jun Xiang, wrote to the judge Sunday requesting the adjournment because Gitner was sick. He said it was anticipated Gitner would be well enough to resume his cross-examination of Howe by Wednesday.